"The death of British actor and comedian, Peter Cook"
Peter Cook as E L Wisty
From the slightly morbid find a grave website:
First of four videos on YouTube (the rest are here, here and here, or they should flash up at the end, so you could cycle through in the regular manner). Cook came on the show in the guise of four different fictional guests - an old-school northern football manager, a hoary high court judge, a vacuous member of the British rock gentry and this, as Norman House, who is essentially one of Cook's oldest characters EL Wisty, but with a few biographical adjustments.
Peter Cook is, in some ways due to his early death, one of "comedy's untouchables". Ask Ricky Gervais for his opinion and I'm sure he'd get all serious and dewy-eyed like he does on those Shows Where People Get Interviewed About Stuff They've Watched (only the classy ones for Gervais, mind) and go on about the man (to a greater or lesser degree of effectiveness than I) and about how marvellous he was, and yadda, yadda yadda.
Lesser men (on lesser Shows Where People Get Interviewed About Stuff They've Watched) would describe him as "genius"*. He probably was one***. Whilst this kind of canonisation is something generally to be deplored and questioned at every turn, I think in Peter Cook's case it's more than fair.
There's a whole section of people who seem to think Cook squandered his God-given talent in his later years. Anyone who's skimmeed through the highs and lows of Cook's career should find plenty of talent most definitely not having been squandered. No-one has said of anyone that "the strength of his genius is how he drank himself to death"**** Peter Cook did a lot in his life. In the 14 years since his death, has anyone else done as much?
Today's Quote...
"Kindness consists of loving people more than they perhaps deserve"
We've all known people in relationships like that.
"Actor, Comedian. Born in Torquay, Devonshire, the son of Alec Cook, a diplomat, and his wife Margaret (nee Mayo), he was educated at Radley and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He intended to follow his father into the diplomatic corps but, while still attending the University, began writing sketches which were performed in the West End."And from then on... well, bang! Satire boom, Private Eye, Not Only.... But Also, Bedazzled, 70s Derek and Clive, 80s, er... chatshow appearances... etc, etc, etc... The whole story is on the wikipedia entry in some form or other and I've not the time nor the inclination to rewrite the biography for this blog... Instead, here's a Peter Cook Youtube Special:
Not Only... But Also: "Sexual Frustration"
Or a prototype for the two-ordinary-blokes-in-a-pub-talking-about-celebrities" Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse sketches... "Oi! Edmunds! Noooo!" etc. A lovely piece - dreamlike fantasy presented as reality. Pete & Dud were both wonderful, rounded characters, believable despite being played by two Oxbridge graduates. Cook and Moore's relationship is said to have been something of an abusive one, and you can see in this some of Cook's in-character comic condascencion - his eyes fixing on Moore, intent on the upper hand.
In many ways the meaty satire of Cook's generation reinforced the viewer's cleverness and cynicism... here is Cook's oft-quoted (and oft-talkingheaded) monologue as an immediate response to the trial of Jeremy Thorpe, the liberal MP. Take time to reinforce your cleverness (and add to it your up-to-date noughties cynicism) and read about the Thorpe and trial here, and then watch a performance which is somehing quite masterful and commanding, a little dry perhaps, but mesmerising nonetheless.
On Clive Anderson Talks Back, 1992
Or a prototype for the two-ordinary-blokes-in-a-pub-talking-about-celebrities" Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse sketches... "Oi! Edmunds! Noooo!" etc. A lovely piece - dreamlike fantasy presented as reality. Pete & Dud were both wonderful, rounded characters, believable despite being played by two Oxbridge graduates. Cook and Moore's relationship is said to have been something of an abusive one, and you can see in this some of Cook's in-character comic condascencion - his eyes fixing on Moore, intent on the upper hand.
"Entirely A Matter For You", Secret Policeman's Ball, 1979
In many ways the meaty satire of Cook's generation reinforced the viewer's cleverness and cynicism... here is Cook's oft-quoted (and oft-talkingheaded) monologue as an immediate response to the trial of Jeremy Thorpe, the liberal MP. Take time to reinforce your cleverness (and add to it your up-to-date noughties cynicism) and read about the Thorpe and trial here, and then watch a performance which is somehing quite masterful and commanding, a little dry perhaps, but mesmerising nonetheless.
On Clive Anderson Talks Back, 1992
First of four videos on YouTube (the rest are here, here and here, or they should flash up at the end, so you could cycle through in the regular manner). Cook came on the show in the guise of four different fictional guests - an old-school northern football manager, a hoary high court judge, a vacuous member of the British rock gentry and this, as Norman House, who is essentially one of Cook's oldest characters EL Wisty, but with a few biographical adjustments.
Peter Cook is, in some ways due to his early death, one of "comedy's untouchables". Ask Ricky Gervais for his opinion and I'm sure he'd get all serious and dewy-eyed like he does on those Shows Where People Get Interviewed About Stuff They've Watched (only the classy ones for Gervais, mind) and go on about the man (to a greater or lesser degree of effectiveness than I) and about how marvellous he was, and yadda, yadda yadda.
Lesser men (on lesser Shows Where People Get Interviewed About Stuff They've Watched) would describe him as "genius"*. He probably was one***. Whilst this kind of canonisation is something generally to be deplored and questioned at every turn, I think in Peter Cook's case it's more than fair.
There's a whole section of people who seem to think Cook squandered his God-given talent in his later years. Anyone who's skimmeed through the highs and lows of Cook's career should find plenty of talent most definitely not having been squandered. No-one has said of anyone that "the strength of his genius is how he drank himself to death"**** Peter Cook did a lot in his life. In the 14 years since his death, has anyone else done as much?
Today's Quote...
"Kindness consists of loving people more than they perhaps deserve"
We've all known people in relationships like that.
Have a lovely weekend!!!
* from the verb 'to be a genius'**
** forgetting that the word 'genius' is a noun, obviously
***both a noun and a genius
****practically no-one has said "the strength of her genius", but that's an entirely different kettle of eggs
****practically no-one has said "the strength of her genius", but that's an entirely different kettle of eggs
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